Estes Park town trustees debated applying for a grant to create a reroute of Moraine Avenue on a one-way couplet and to place a parking structure at the post office, through a federal, $56-million total grant program, at March 21 study session. The parking structure is planned to have a four-story back side and a 2-story front (facing Moraine), with 350 to 510 new parking spaces, and an estimated 150,000 square feet of commercial space, a promenade area and a bike path. The construction would require the relocation of the post office and the purchase of the Master Graphics business. The trustees may consider a phased project — a one-way couplet, with a parking structure to follow, giving them a place-holder for future construction.

Among arguments against the ideas were changing the town's character, taking properties and placing the parking structure downtown, rather than at the Stanley fairgrounds. The afternoon congestion coming out of the park, however, could justify placing the structure at the post office, however, some trustees felt. Parking in that location may well encourage people to stop and stay longer in town. Officials feel that parking there will augment the other new parking structure to be built at the Visitors Center.

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The trustees decided to pursue discussions on the FLAP project at their special study session Thursday night. There is a deadline of May 15 to apply for the Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) grant, which is to improve transportation facilities that provide access to federal lands. CDOT has verbally committed to partner with Estes Park and to provide matching funds. A 17.2-percent matching fund is required.

One-way couplet option for FLAP grant. (Juley Harvey / Trail-Gazette)

Public works director Scott Zurn met with a representative from the state of Colorado recently, who assured Zurn the state would meet the match for the relocation project.

Under the plan, the state would do the acquisition and project management and the town would do the environmental planning process planning process. A decision and award of the grant could be expected in the fall, with construction beginning in 2014, after the contracts are done.

In discussing the project at the work session, trustees learned that CDOT will match the one-way and two-way couplets only. Zurn said the town needs a $10-million match from CDOT, to make us competitive. Trustee Ron Norris asked staff to provide the trustees with their best understanding of the matches and what is firm. Zurn said that, if the board wanted to do something on Tuesday night, there would definitely be a deeper investigation.

The trustees don't want to "leave money on the table," and see this as an opportunity that may not occur again, to improve the transportation/parking/visitor experience here. Still, they are concerned about changing the character of Estes Park and the potential ramifications involved with the takings of needed properties in the area.

Zurn said the town has received preliminary feedback on the project from the public through direct mailings and there will be public meetings throughout the process, as well, especially if the application is accepted and the town enters into the national environmental protection agency (NEPA) process required. The NEPA process is often the biggest hurdle, and includes several public comment periods, he said. Close to 600 direct survey mailings on the project went out to Estes Park residents this year. The survey results have been tallied, with residents' prioritization on the four FLAP options proposed: a parking structure at the post office location (in addition to the one planned at the Visitors Center); a one-way couplet option that would reroute Moraine Avenue; a two-way road option; and a Big Thompson Trail option. There was also a do-nothing option, which rated the lowest, Zurn said. Residents who responded to the survey rated the parking structure and the one-way couplet as the highest priority.

Mayor Bill Pinkham expressed interest in seeing whether anyone had rated doing nothing highly. He also said his preference was to move ahead on the project (all the trustees were in relative agreement, except for Eric Blackhurst, who is concerned about changing the character of Estes Park irretrievably). Pinkham asked Zurn how significant a change it will be, if the trustees choose the one-way couplet and the application is accepted.

"What am I going to notice?" he asked. "From the perspective of the businesses — other than the EPIC (project of the proposed new theater at the Park Theatre site) Estes Park will look pretty much the same — except on the back side. On Ivy and Riverside, the change will be noticed. What will it look like?"

"The most immediate impact you'll see is a lot less congestion downtown," Zurn said. "Pedestrian-vehicle conflicts will be lower."

Additionally, visitor experiences will improve, with the frustrations of traffic jams lessening and a quicker ride through town to the park. It won't take 15 to 20 minutes to get through town, Zurn said. There will be reduced pollution and a better environment downtown, he added.

FLAP projects will be evaluated on criteria including: support the economic vitality; increase the safety of the transportation system; increase the accessibility and mobility of people and freight; protect and enhance the environment. Zurn described the grant project as similar to the parking structure at the Visitor Center, and said the grant used to be known as the Paul Sarbanes grant, and has morphed into the FLAP.

Zurn said the one-way option will direct traffic away from town, and there have been varied reactions from merchants and residents, so far. However, it should create a better visitor experience and be better all the way around.

Town administrator Frank Lancaster showed some photos from when he started visiting Estes Park as a younger person; the ambiance has changed. It's different than it was, he noted, indicating that is not necessarily a bad thing. The flood made a big difference, he said.

While what we have now is the Estes Park people love, he observed, not long ago, it was different. Trustee Wendy Koenig added that people screamed when it changed back then, too, when the Riverwalk was built.

As Zurn noted, the issue is money.

"We don't have a lot," he said. "We need this (CDOT) match."

Lancaster said if the donation of land is considered as part of the match, the project "looks good. If there's no match from somewhere (I couldn't recommend we do it)."

Zurn asked Peggy Campbell, CEO and president of Visit Estes Park, to comment on visitors' reactions to the traffic situation. Many hundred of people surveyed in 2010 and 2011 had nothing good to say about the traffic, she said. Visit Estes Park asked visitors to rate their satisfaction with various parts of their Estes Park experience, from Rocky Mountain National Park (receiving the highest marks, at 98 percent), to downtown (81 percent), to parking (53 percent). The parking problem erodes the visitor experience, she said. This grant would provide an opportunity to change some things for the better for the visitor experience, she added.

Zurn said the state expects more people to be traveling to enjoy public lands in the future. By 2035, the road volume to capacity here will surpass the lower limit of severe congestion for urban roads, he said, without improvements. Additionally, he said, we have reached the limit of technological fixes with timing at the Elkhorn-Moraine intersection. We're as high-tech as we can get now, he said.

Downtown is congested; the vehicle capacity network is full, and has been that way for decades, and we're seeing growth in off-season traffic, Zurn said.

Pinkham asked whether last summer's visitor count was off, because of the fires. Zurn replied that July's traffic count was one of the highest in the last decade. Highways 34 and 36 are on the state's radar for adding passing lanes. The highways are congested, as is downtown, and it gets worse and worse, Zurn said.

The town board set goals and asked staff to work on these issues, including past studies and the recent report of the transportation visioning committee, which echoes the needs listed for the grant application.

Blackhurst said it seems like we'd be spending five years and $5 million to go back to where we were five years ago, and using the monies to forever alter the character of Estes Park. Norris said he wants to make sure they meet the NEPA requirements, which include not altering the basic historic characteristics of the area.

Pinkham said that projected growth for Weld and Larimer counties is from the current population of 640,000 to 1.3 or 1.4 million on 20 to 30 years.

"This is the time to start addressing (transportation) issues, if we can get the money," Pinkham said. "It will be more difficult to get federal and state money in the future. It's very possible to get the money now....We'll do the best possible job of preserving what we cherish."

See more on this story in Friday's editions of the Trail-Gazette, as well as updates online.

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